Xyrin Empire-Chapter 733: A Nighttime Gathering, An Encounter with One of the Four Leaders?
Chapter 733: Chapter 733: A Nighttime Gathering, An Encounter with One of the Four Leaders? novelbuddy-cσ๓
Bingdisi’s love for books was beyond doubt; hardly anyone could discover a book’s function from such utterly opposite aspects as the Rogue Goddess did: opening it could purify her own spirit, closing it could purify an enemy’s brain, maximizing the functionality of a book to such an extent. This fully demonstrated how terrifying a cultured hooligan could be.
Don’t forget, before Bingdisi was a hooligan, she was primarily a tech geek, and a modding tech geek at that. Her brutal bare-metal direct control skills had once shocked the entire Divine Realm’s tech community and helped her overcome many academic rivals. According to Bingdisi herself, the power and hardness of books played an instrumental role in this process.
Leaving Bingdisi’s ferocious library, it was already evening; no one had expected that our group of slackers would spend such a long time among a pile of books. To spend an afternoon doing nothing but soaking ourselves in books was almost unimaginable for Qianqian and me under normal circumstances. If only we’d had this resolve back in high school, there would have been no worry about cheating on the physics exam and both scoring twenty: moreover, that cheating was successful.
Dinner was still with Bingdisi’s parents, and the dishes were still satisfying, with a majority being quite familiar. Clearly, the Kuwayin couple had already prepared well for receiving guests before we arrived, making everyone feel not as if they were dining in the mysterious Divine Realm with deities, but more like they were mooching a meal at a common friend’s house with warm and hospitable parents—a most satisfying aspect. The second thing that pleased everyone was the generous portion sizes of the food, meaning there was no need to hurry, even if Sandora tried to snatch it all.
"I hope you’ll like it," Aunt Aisali cheerfully said during the meal, "We’ve recently developed a habit of not eating, after all, for the Divine Race, eating is just an optional activity, but I hope this hastily arranged banquet still satisfies our guests."
"That’s like a hellish ascetic life," Sandora mumbled through a mouthful of food yet still managed to speak clearly and elegantly, "Speaking of which, it’s been so long since I last visited the Divine Realm; I’ve somewhat forgotten. I didn’t expect you haven’t changed much."
"Your change, however, is surprising," Aunt Aisali said with a serene smile in her eyes as she observed Sandora’s imposing manner of eating. Both of them referred to each other respectfully as "you", but one was out of respect for a friend and elder, while the other was expressing respect for the "King of Mankind", "It’s vastly different from your last visit."
"I’ve almost forgotten that scenario."
Sandora admitted that even as a Xyrin Apostle, sifting through the memory bank’s nooks and crannies for a piece of video data from so many millennia ago must indeed be a hassle.
"Not one for jokes, serious and stiff, not wasting a single second, even too lazy to speak with us because of lack of practical value," Kuwayin shook his head slightly with a nuanced expression, "Back then, the King of Mankind didn’t even grasp what a joke was; frankly, communicating was troubling. You were all like that."
Sandora awkwardly pursed her lips: "Is that so? I’ve completely forgotten. The Empire has undergone significant changes, as you know."
"It seems your change is related to the people around you," Uncle Kuwayin glanced at me and then swept his eyes over Big Sister and the others, "It may seem a bit rude, but really, strange friends; Father God rarely invites mortals over to his home personally, naming them explicitly. Although I can’t fathom his grand thoughts, perhaps he wanted to offer you some guidance..."
My ears perked up immediately: after waiting a good half of the day, someone finally brought up something serious. Our purpose here was to chat with Father God, but alas, nearly a day passed, and we had just aimlessly followed Bingdisi around. Now that Uncle Kuwayin suddenly mentioned Father God’s will, it seemed like he finally felt we were familiar enough with the surroundings to start discussing serious matters.
But Uncle nonchalantly took a sip of his soup and started discussing with Bingdisi’s mom which family’s Dragon God daughter couldn’t get married.
"So, about Father God’s guidance just now... that’s it?"
"That’s it." Uncle casually shrugged his shoulders, "How would I know what Father God is thinking?"
"Ding-dang, if you start a story and don’t follow through, what’s the point?"
"Suck it up, my dad has this problem, whenever he thinks of something, he just goes on and on. He’s been bamboozled by salespeople quite a few times, it’s a real disgrace for our family." Bingdisi and I muttered, our voices quite loud, pretty much everyone in the opposite living room could hear us.
The post-dinner entertainment was still spectacular, where Bingdisi and her dad fought for ten minutes.
Night had fallen in the Divine Realm, but clearly, the group of tourists had no intention of calling it a day at sunset. Maybe the mystique of this place made everyone a bit excited. Even Big Sister had made an exception to allow the kids to stay up past ten o’clock today. Now, everyone was gathered in Bingdisi’s large room because the Rogue Goddess thought the noisier, the better. Her fierce bedroom, like an Imperial Palace, was more than capable of accommodating a bunch of mischievous pests.
Lilina was telling ghost stories to Little Baobao and the Mercury Lamp, to which the Mercury Lamp commented that they were incredibly boring, as dull as Anwina’s memoirs, though both were genuine ghost stories.
Qianqian and Lin Xue seemed to have found something amusing, even Big Sister was drawn over: they had tumbled out a bunch of small spherical objects from Bingdisi’s room, which the Rogue Goddess claimed were her favorite toys as a child. I suspected they were some kind of mysterious items simulating planetary orbits, Qianqian guessed they had something to do with fortune-telling, and Big Sister thought that if you enlarged these small spheres, a micro world could possibly exist inside them, similar to a toy version of a Divine Race ecosystem. Lin Xue, with a serious face, declared she saw these small spheres connected to the cycle of life and reincarnation—although she couldn’t possibly know what these little trinkets were supposed to do millions of years ago.
In the end, it turned out that they were just marbles. Their only historical value was that Bingdisi had initially traded her dad’s Golden Wand of Destiny for them. It was during her loli phase, the first time this naïve and cute loli Goddess was scammed. From that day on, the seeds of violence within the lovely loli Goddess awakened—the next day, she "redeemed" the wand, at the cost of smashing two bricks.
"Don’t link everything in the Divine Realm with those far-fetched matters, Bingdisi’s room also has her collection of little sketches," Sandora lectured us afterward.
I´m increasingly convinced that the Divine Realm is only as far as two stops from Erli Bridge.
Pandora sat dumbly on a chair, again slipping into standby mode. Visca was dissatisfied with her own sister’s dullness. The lively Cat-eyed Loli had been occasionally tugging her sister’s hair or pinching her cheeks. Occasionally, her sister’s hand would accurately strike the Cat-eyed Loli´s forehead. It was foreseeable that these two little girls would soon start fighting again.
"I want to go out for a walk." As all the girls had their fun, I felt that joining their silly, blissful games might not be so good for my mental development, so I suggested going outside to see the scenery—wondering what the night view is like in the Divine Realm.
"In the yard?" Bingdisi was busy whispering to Sandora but still looked up to respond. "Let Mo take you to the Shadow Garden right in the middle of the palace, but it’s a bit eerie at night, not sure if you’d like it."
"No need," I waved my hand. "I’ll just take a walk outside the temple."
"Oh, then feel free to stroll around, remember the temple is everywhere, just silently chant my name when you want to come back. If that old door outside nags you too much, just give it a good whack with the City-breaking Hammer, it won’t break."
I left the room with tremendous respect for this prodigal daughter, then I got lost for thirty minutes before finding a Divine Servant to show the way. I walked past the same door four times, paced back and forth on a staircase three times, and ultimately, it was Mo, who was out on night patrol, who successfully guided me to the massive and frustratingly confusing palace entrance. The old and somewhat senile door, which had been there for tens of millions of years, was making a steady snoring sound. Through Mo’s additional information, I learned that this door also had a great habit of going to sleep at nine at night and not waking until eight the next morning.
I could hardly imagine how crooked a designer must be to make a security door develop a habit of sleeping at night—they truly were the protective gods of petty thieves everywhere: bankrupting without injustice.
"Come back early, Sir Veroka, the Old Door is getting old and really can’t handle staying up late at night."
I didn’t bother to figure out how this magical door had given me such a name, I just waved my hand, and the grand dark palace of the Bingdisi family disappeared instantly into thin air, leaving behind only the mysterious and serene night sky.
In the Divine Realm, there are no sun, moon, or stars, but the nights here are not dark. Auroras appeared in the sky, magnificently beautiful like curtains hanging at the edge of heaven. I wasn’t sure if it was just my luck or if such nights were a daily occurrence in the Divine Realm. Still, the scenery definitely lifted my spirits. I hoped there wasn’t a "No Photography or Filming Beyond this Point" regulation here as I quietly pulled out my camera.
Alone in the vast expanse of space, stepping out for a walk at this hour was a whim, but I felt it was necessary to thoroughly understand this world, considering it was a rare journey to the Divine Realm. Naturally, the suburban nightscapes of the Divine Realm were included in this. Humanity always harbors much curiosity about mysterious places, and the drive to explore is the primary force behind human progress. Under this impetus, I roamed aimlessly across the boundless plains of the Main Continent, inadvertently stepping on three wild chickens, two rabbit burrows, four jumping frogs, a pair of mating wildcats, and numerous other creatures I had no idea how to classify. These creatures of the Divine Realm were more docile than I had imagined; even after such blatant disrespect, they expressed their dissatisfaction in very gentle ways, including sixteen lightning storms and two passionately fiery bursts of hellfire.
Using the towel I carried, I wiped my face clean and then patted down my wildly sticking-up hair—my tremendous resistance to energy had spared me from any damage during my stroll, aside from to my dignity. I stuffed the last creature, which looked like a rabbit but could produce a rather impressive lightning storm, into my personal space, planning to feed it to Sandora when I got back. Then, it dawned on me to regret not having asked Bingdisi about the ecology of this world before setting out.
As I was debating whether to return now or continue to wrestle with the endless irritable little wild beasts of the Divine Realm’s grasslands, a tiny, delicate voice suddenly reached me from behind:
"This is the territory of the small beast pack; they aren’t very welcoming of visitors at night."
Caught off guard by the voice that approached without footsteps, I quickly turned around—half a minute later, I was massaging my neck while sizing up the little creature before me.
It was a little elf fluttering in the air, its body sprinkling little dots of green luminescence. Its green dress and long green hair almost made me think it was Dingdang joking with me, but after pulling out a magnifying glass, I confirmed it wasn’t her.
A Life Goddess? A Life Goddess out for a midnight stroll?
"I am Jiajia!" The tiny elf started buzzing around my head, up and down—hovering is one of the favorite pastimes of a Life Goddess, much like the behavior of a dragonfly, "You’re a human!"
"Ah, I’m Chen Jun," my mind, tempered by constant practice with Dingdang, allowed me to ignore the swift movements of this little creature. I continued looking straight ahead at what might have been a dog’s tail flower obscured by mist, "A friend of Bingdisi, from the Xyrin Empire."
"Jiajia knows!" The cheeky little thing hovered just ten centimeters in front of my nose, its green pupils sparkling with curious and innocent joy, "Xingchen said a friend from the Divine Realm was coming, and one of them is named Chen Jun—Dingdang, come out to play!"
As I was pondering who this mysterious ’Xingchen’ the Life Goddess mentioned might be, I was surprised to hear her suddenly calling for Dingdang. Even more astonishingly, the next second, something nudged open my shirt pocket, and Dingdang, rubbing her eyes and perching on the edge of the pocket, immediately called out cheerfully upon seeing the little figure ahead, "Yay! Sister Goddess!"
The little creature shot out, affectionately grabbing the hands of the elf named Jiajia, spinning rapidly in circles in the air. The two three-inch beings seemed utterly ecstatic as they engaged in this silly aerial game, while I stood in brief shock: the ’Sister Goddess’ Dingdang often mentioned—there was only one... the Supreme Life Goddess.
My eyes twitched, my lips twitched, my forehead twitched, and soon I felt like my whole body could start twitching, while the two merrily engaged in loop-the-loops, flying sideways, fast reversing, performing the Rattlesnake Maneuver, tracing wave and sharp angular patterns in the air, chattering in the Divine Race language that I couldn’t understand, until a dizzy Dingdang "smack" landed on my forehead. The little thing, panting, began nuzzling my nose, "Ah Jun, let me introduce to you, this is Sister Goddess, the most powerful Life Goddess, so much stronger! And she’s even taller than Dingdang by a whole little millet grain!"
Jiajia hovered in mid-air. The violent spinning had severely affected even the most powerful Supreme Life Goddess, and though she didn’t fall down with a smack like Dingdang did, she nodded vigorously two meters to my side to show that the Little One was seeing double.
So, I continued convulsing.
The strongest of the Divine Race in the Star Domain had four branches, Light, Dark, Life, Order, and the Supreme Life Goddess was the leader of the Life branch. As much as I was reluctant to believe what the vast majority of readers probably guessed long ago, she was also a Little Dou Ding, just like Dingdang, and I suspected her intelligence was also seriously impaired.
"Sister Goddess, have you come to the plains? Is there a gathering today?"
Dingdang sat cross-legged on my head, her squeaky voice filled with unrestrained joy, while the still-dazed Jiajia nodded repeatedly towards an empty spot, "Ah, a gathering, a gathering. Oh, invite your human friend too!"
I became curious about this "gathering" that Dingdang suddenly mentioned. It seemed to be a frequent activity among the Life Goddesses. Since the "Great Goddess" standing a whole small rice grain taller than Dingdang had personally invited me and since I came out tonight just to roam around, of course, I decided to check it out.
Two big dragonflies led the way, and I followed behind somewhat groggily. Dingdang mentioned that the place of the gathering was not far from here, just a short flight away. However, looking around, it seemed like kilometers of open, deserted prairie, and given Dingdang’s flying ability, which seemed to fall short of a dragonfly’s top speed, I seriously doubted whether I could still catch tomorrow morning’s breakfast.
However, this doubt lasted only a moment, as I noticed the space around us was changing.
Some constants were being reset, many definitions revised, and every step I took seemed to cross many barrier-like things. When I came to my senses from this brief disorientation, the surroundings had already turned into a forest clearing bathed in soft light.
I couldn’t even sense the moment when I had crossed this imaginary distance, nor could I pinpoint the instant the scenery in front of me had turned into woodland. Everything had happened so logically, as if I had been walking in this forest all along.
This wasn’t space transmission. After querying my current coordinates through spiritual connection, I realized I hadn’t moved much, and I had not entered some closed-off Other Space. This space had been open from the beginning; it had always been around me, but those few steps had truly crossed some kind of...
"Conceptual layers," Jiajia laughed, seemingly catching on to my thoughts. "Every inch of space in the Divine Realm results from countless overlapping conceptual layers. What you normally perceive is just the layer that is easiest to understand. You Xyrin People have studied this and then developed Phase Stealth and Parallel Space technology. Essentially, it’s all about one space being described in multiple ways."
I looked somewhat astonished at the small elf resembling Dingdang and ultimately concluded: She truly deserved to be the Supreme Life Goddess; her intelligence was indeed better than Dingdang’s.
The forest clearing was strewn with fallen leaves, several smooth large tree stumps stood desolately on the ground, and I saw no large dragonflies anywhere, which made me wonder: Where are the people? No, I mean, where are the gods?
"Alright, alright, it’s almost time," Jiajia flew onto the largest tree stump, jubilantly shouting, "Everyone, come out! We have guests, and Dingdang is back too!"
The next instant, the Life Goddesses I had just been curious about all rushed out, and I got literally buried under a deluge of leaves... (To be continued. If you like this work, feel free to come to Qidian (qidian.com) to cast your recommended votes and monthly votes; your support is my greatest motivation.)
